Awe-Inspiring Timelapse of San Francisco Fog

Photographer Simon Christen has spent nearly 2 years shooting timelapse photos of the San Francisco Bay Area morning fog rolling in. Captured in the Marin Headlands, these scenes of thick, billowy fog drifting through the hills, city and the Golden Gate Bridge at the edge of sunrise inspire a feeling of absolute peace. In this short film titled “Adrift,” Simon Christen shows some of the most captivating scenes he captured:

Christen kept very close track of the weather, waking up at 5am to check weather webcams and decide if the fog was thick enough to make the 45-minute trip to the Marin Headlands. Sometimes he found that once he arrived the fog had already passed, or was too high or thick to see through. Every now and then he would arrive at the exact right time to capture these incredible shots.

The music that accompanies “Adrift” seems to be a perfect fit for each moment because it was created specifically for this timelapse film by Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf. The moment the sun rises above the horizon, the fog begins glowing; while the mood of the images change, the music also changes to capture the essence of the sunrise. Christen’s intention with creating this short film is to share the serenity he felt while taking the photos and experiencing it for himself.

“I hope with my short film I am able to convey the feeling of happiness I felt while I experienced those stunning scenes.”

For Further Training on Time-lapse Photography:

Check out this COMPLETE guide (146 pages) to shooting, processing and rendering time-lapses using a dslr camera. It can be found here: Time-lapse Photography Guide

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3 Comments

PatGsays:

I admire the photography and respect the enormous amount of work that went into it, but unfortunately the final product doesn’t leave me with any feeling of being “adrift”. I think it’s because the pace is so fast that the fog rolling in appears to rush in like a tsunami and instead leaves me with a feeling of a scary wave that is about to knock me down and sweep away all the houses one sees down below. Is there any way to slow the pace down so the effect is more peaceful?

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